Real-World Data From Czech Study Group on CD20 Antibody Plus Chemotherapy for CLL
Posted: Monday, August 17, 2020
Front-line therapy involving an anti-CD20 antibody with chemotherapy was roughly as effective and safe for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in real-world data as in data from clinical trials, according to the GO-CLLEAR trial by the Czech CLL Study Group. The study investigated real-world outcomes of obinutuzumab plus chlorambucil, rituximab plus chlorambucil, and rituximab plus bendamustine. Michael Doubek, PhD, of Masaryk University, Czech Republic, and colleagues published their results in Hematological Oncology.
“Chemotherapy combined with anti-CD20 antibody should be still considered a treatment option in elderly population[s] with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia requiring therapy,” the authors wrote.
The retrospective observational study included 398 patients treated with an anti-CD20 antibody plus chemotherapy at 10 centers in the Czech Republic between May 2010 and October 2018. A total of 63 patients received obinutuzumab/chlorambucil, 78 received rituximab/chlorambucil, and 257 received rituximab/bendamustine.
The overall response rate with obinutuzumab/chlorambucil was 76% in the real-world data, compared with 71% in the CLL 14 trial, 73% in the ILLUMINATE trial, 78% in the CLL 11 trial, and 79% in the ELEVATE trial. The rituximab/chlorambucil overall response rate was 75% in this study, compared with 65% in the CLL 11 trial and 86% in the MABLE trial. As for rituximab/bendamustine, the overall response rate was 85% in this study, compared with 91% in the MABLE trial. The complete remission rates for the three treatments in this study were 30%, 22%, and 47%, respectively. Median event-free survival was 49.0 months, 20.3 months, and 37.0 months, respectively.
Rituximab/chlorambucil treatment resulted in lower levels of grade 3 or higher neutropenia (31%) and grade 3 or higher infections (6.4%) than the other two combinations. Grade 3 or higher infections occurred in 17% of patients in receipt of the other two treatments. A total of 43% of patients given obinutuzumab/chlorambucil and 49% of those given rituximab/bendamustine had grade 3 or higher neutropenia.
Disclosure: The study authors’ disclosure information may be found at onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
